Headhunters, not pirates

Headhunting for the Ibans is history. But many a question still lingers in the minds of many as to why headhunting was rampant or to some extent ‘cultural’ among them. Part of this article explains why.

“Heads are very important because they are needed for many occasions. If your loved ones die, only the coming of freshly cut heads will stop the mourning period. You know that when we are in mourning, nothing we do will be blessed. Heads are also required to bless our longhouse. The more heads we have, the more plentiful our harvests will be. They will also guard our longhouse from evil spirits. During our many festivals, our women carry the heads up and down the verandahs or galleries to show of the bravery of their fathers and their brothers. No maiden will give you even a glance if you have not obtained a single head.”… Jimmy Donald, Keling of the Raised World pg. 5

Dato Sri Empiang Jabu in her article ‘Historical Perspective of the Iban’ in The Sarawak Museum Journal (December 1989 issue) writes on pg. 25 in support of the above notion. “… The practice of headhunting being the most talked honoured tradition of the Iban of those days was the crowning proof of manhood. Marriage for young Iban then would come easily with the proof that a man has taken heads in war. Coupled with a war-like spirit was a belief in the magical powers of the human heads. Heads were believed to bring strength, virtue and prosperity to the longhouse and it was the object of every young warrior to bring back a head to adorn his longhouse…”

However, the Iban first started headhunting not because they loved to do it or for the sake of treasuring the heads as trophies back home. It was because from time immemorial with the absence of proper law and order with regards to other tribes, people killed one another. Such thing was common elsewhere, in every part of the world when no proper government existed. Fine examples of this were the Jahiliah Arabs (Period of the Dark Ages) before the coming of Islam to the Middle East and the periods of the Warring States in China both during and after Confucius time.

The Ibans, like other brave ordinary people, had to defend themselves. Long-long time ago Ibans were always victims of attacks by another Borneo tribe known then as Kantu but later learned to defend themselves and turned the table against the attackers. Being born brave (or taught to be brave) the Ibans not only killed their enemies in war but took the heads to appease the spirits of those fellow Ibans killed by the enemies.

Even before the Brookes showed up, the Ibans had already engaged in headhunting simply because during the migratory period they met with a lot of hostility. Iban early immigrants from the Kapuas basin in Kalimantan to Batang Ai and subsequently to other parts of Sarawak came into contact with other people who attacked them and fled. Many Ibans were killed in this nature. Prominent among their attackers were the Bukitans or locally known as Baketan, now an extinct tribe.

Empiang Jabu uses the story of Beti nicknamed Brauh Ngumbang (Loud Yell) and a girl named Remampak to cite one example of the Baketan attack. Beti avenged the mourning Remampak for her slain father by killing and taking the head of the killer who happened to be the leader of the Baketans.

This shows Iban deeds were always based on logical and practical reasons. As such this background has given birth to an important, albeit a notorious part of Iban culture. In order to survive, Ibans of old had to continue the headhunting and found in the practice the usefulness of the heads both in their spiritual and their socio-political world.

In another word, headhunting to the Iban was an integral part of survival in the anarchic scenario of ‘kill or be killed’. If they (the Ibans) did not practise the headhunting their enemies (always those who came into contact with them in new territories), then they would be attacked first by the other tribes. Demonstrating their pragmatism, the Ibans preferred to attack first rather than bear the consequences of being unprepared.

For adventurer James Brooke who landed on Sarawak soil on 15 August 1839, it was really a bad timing and unfortunate. Coming to the scene at this particular time – he came uninvited – served him right.

Sir James Brooke, Sarawak’s first Rajah (1841-1868) was the first to use the term pirates upon rebelling Ibans. Though the Dutch rulers of Sambas in Indonesian Borneo and the Brunei Sultanate never referred to the Ibans as pirates, Brooke’s use of the term was to serve his own purpose. Foreign authors such as Pringle, Runciman and others who wrote on the famous Battle of Beting Maru in 1849 termed the Iban war party under Linggir ‘Mali Lebu’(Never without conquest) as pirates, basing their information on records made available to them by the Brookes Government.

Iban side of the story were never told for public consumption. Were they in any sense pirates? Definitely not. There were plenty of pirates in the area then such as the Sulus, Illanuns, Natunans and others but not Iban. To describe Iban practice of headhunting as piratical is an insult to the language.

Some Saribas Ibans did go on headhunting activities searching for their enemies along the coast, sometimes paddling beyond Beting Maru, even as far as Sambas in Indonesian Borneo but it did not merit them to be converted into buccaneers. History supports the fact that Iban boats were too meek for any piratical activities. Linggir and his men were not ignorant of the fact that their boats were nothing compared to those used by the real pirates. And they were not even comfortable with the seas.

*source- mySarawak.org

Courting girls

In the old days,at the age of fourteen, an Iban boy begins to attain his bachelorhood. His parents teach him to behave and speak politely to others. He also learn to court girls together with older bachelors. Courting girls at night (ngayap) has been an Iban traditional dating method to look for suitable partner and pave the way for their future love. Hence, they must learn the polite manners in approaching the girl of their heart.

The bachelors must learn to establish and maintain their good reputation by paying due respect to the girls’ bed. They ought to be considerate with other people who are sleeping without disturbing them from their dreams. In addition, they should walk quietly along the verandah, which was very difficult to do in the dark for the nervous and the inexperienced. The wooden floors surfaces were mostly uneven with a lot of loose domestic items lying around the corners, or hanging from deer antlers tied to the posts or hanging on loose bamboo beams.

This courting activity is also a test of the young boys’ courage and maturity as they have to travel at night through forest, crossing rivers or swamps to reach the girls’ longhouse. In the headhunting days, this kind of travel could be a very risky affair as they could fall upon a band of marauding enemies. So they are trained to exercise extreme caution to keep them on guard against untoward incident. These include keeping themselves adequately armed, be alert of danger and are prepared for action at all time in their travel. They were also taught to properly identify themselves should they meet other people in their journey.

This nightly travel by the bachelors is also treated as an inter longhouse night security petrol by the community. Any sign of danger detected, these bachelors could give early warning to the community. This would give them time to respond to these emergencies and quell any surprise attacks by enemies. For this reason, ngayap was encouraged as part of the Iban culture and treated as an important early learning and social interaction process for their children. Though there is no set of established rules to this tradition, common understanding by the community at large have accepted this traditional courtship as part of the Iban way of life. There has been no reported incident of property stolen or damaged and fatality incident in the history of the Saribas Iban society due to ngayap activities.

On the other hand, for the girls who aim high or those who have been properly counseled by their parents, they will automatically know how to recognise certain behavior of a suitor to be entertained. The boys who have been ill-cultured and talked boisterously are to be avoided as the girls normally abhor boys who have been badly groomed.

In their conversation with girls whom they court, many boys say that they wish to marry them, or tell the spinsters that their arrivals are made through the requests of their parents to ask for their hands in marriage. On hearing such proposals, the girls must think profoundly. Perhaps the declarations can turn to be mere tricks to induce the girls to offer themselves to the boys. At this juncture, many girls like to test the boys by telling them that they have as yet, no intentions of getting married unless these lads have shown their manly qualities like participating in venturing abroad to search for fame and fortune.

In the old days, when there were many enemies around, spinsters usually declared their refusals to get married unless Iban bachelors had killed enemies and taken their heads. Due to such encouragement on the part of the girls, the male Ibans in those days were rarely found not to have gone abroad or joining a war expeditions because they feared that they could not easily obtain suitable wives. Any man who spent his entire life in his own longhouse was usually labeled as a coward who could, as the women termed it, “put on a woman’s sarong”. Hence, they found it difficult to marry high profile (clever and skillful) girls, unless they are not aware of his true qualities.

Moreover, when a girl reaches maturity, and if there is a suitor, her parents will arrange for her to settle down. Normally, an Iban girl marries when she is seventeen years of age. When a girl attains her spinsterhood, her mother teaches her the ways employed to protect her. She must be taught to behave and speak courteously to boys who court her at night. She is aware that it has been a tradition for a boy to court a girl. However, the question of getting her to offer herself to the boy depends very much on the girl herself, because he cannot force her to give consent unless they love each other through his kindness and winning ways. These are secretly explained to her by her mother. The mother also emphasizes the methods in which her daughter can judge whether or not the boy is sincere enough to marry her.

*source

GN Mawar Wordpress

BORNEO TATTOO

The earliest records we have of tattooing in Borneo are from the 19th century. The void before that is probably due to the fact that the interior of the island was considered dangerous territory and the inhabitants were greatly feared. The tribes inhabiting the coasts were better known but their tattoos weren’t very significant. Edwin Gomes, who worked for 17 years as a missionary teacher among the Iban (coastal people), wrote in this connection, “tattooing is practised by most of the Dayak (Iban or coastal Dayak) to a lesser or greater extent. It’s limited to the menfolk though, who often have small tattoos on the forehead, Adam’s apple, shoulders or chest”. It was only in the 19th century, when explorers and missionaries ventured up rivers into the interior, that the West caught a first glimpse of the Borneo tattoos we’re familiar with today. Most of these tattoos probably originated amongst the Kayan, a tribe in the interior belonging to one of the first peoples to settle in Borneo, a branch of the Karen, who inhabited the mountainous regions of Burma and northern Thailand. They are thought to have broken away from the original group to emigrate south towards Malaysia and Borneo around 800 years ago. So it may be that it was the Karen who brought tattooing to Borneo. Excluding aesthetic considerations, women and men in Borneo tattooed themselves for certain precise reasons. For men it was a symbol of virility, heroism, even cowardice (but only rarely). It was a means of identification in battle, a talisman warding off demons and diseases or boosting power, virility and prestige. For women it was primarily a mark of high social standing. It signified group solidarity and ensured them access to the world of the dead. The Kayan believed that a tattoo is like a “torch” in the world of spirits and that without it they would be engulfed in utter darkness. They believed that only tattooed women were able to bathe in the legendary Julan river and collect the pearls that lay on its bed, while the Biajau were convinced that in paradise tattoos turn into gold and take the place of clothing. There’s no doubt that tattooing was thought to confer great beauty. Young Kayan girls were probably comforted – while undergoing the torment of the tattooist’s needles – by the legend of the pheasant, which was believed to have been tattooed, at the dawn of time, by a caucal (a tropical bird similar to a pheasant) and to have become the most beautiful bird in the forest, instead of staying the dull, insignificant creature it originally was. The number of tattoos Kayan women had depended on their standing. A young slave was only allowed a single line along her legs, drawn freehand and called “Ida teloo” (three lines). A young girl, if free but of humble extraction, could wear a slightly more elaborate tattoo, called an “Ida-pat” (four lines), whereas the daughter of a chief would have highly elaborate tattoos on her forearms, on the backs of her hands, on her legs (from the top of the thighs down to the knees) and on the tops of the feet. The whole operation, beginning when a girl was 8-10, usually took around four years. The tattooist, always a woman for the girls, was highly respected in society and paid generously for her services. The tools she used were simple – two or three wooden sticks each with three or four steel needles stuck to the end with resin, and an iron hammer. The pigment was obtained by mixing soot scraped off the bottom of a metal pot, with water and sugar cane juice. Before tattooing the more complicated designs a sort of stamp was used, a tablet of wood delicately carved by the community’s craftsmen. The tattooist smeared the stamp with pigment and “printed” the pattern on the girl’s skin. Then, adding pigment as necessary, she’d follow the out line left by the stamp and perforate the skin by tapping the needles with the hammer. The entire operation proceeded according to precise ritual. The ninth day after new moon was considered a propitious time to start. The girl’s brothers had to be in attendance, taking turns, and special food was prepared every day for the girl and the tattooist. The work was in pre-established stages, often with long intervals between one and another. The back and backs of the hands were tattooed first, then the tops of the feet, the forearms and lastly the thighs to just below the knees. The arms were divided into longitudinal sections, bands containing the following symbolic patterns: concentric circles, spirals, two concentric circles representing two full moons joined together (the most important motif), a series of horizontal zig-zags, entwined tree roots, a tuba, the ribs of a boat and the “Kayan hook”, two linked spirals. Tattoos could vary from person to person but certain figures were always put in the same position. The symbol representing the roots of the tuba, for example, was always placed in the top half of the arm (women used these poisonous roots to catch fish). The design considered most important was the two full moons. Interestingly, each band always contained a small detail preventing it from being perfectly symmetrical. The back of the thigh was usually decorated with a linear pattern, the number of lines making up the pattern depending on the girl’s social standing. The front and side parts were completely covered by the patterns described above, often embellished or modified, including the following: Balalat lukut, Tinggang, Hornbill, Silong, “Tailless dog” (only in the Rajang area). The final leg tattooing session – decoration of the kneecap – was particularly solemn because considered the conclusion of the whole operation. Many sources concur that in the 19th century Kayan men wore few tattoos. Head hunters had tattoos on the backs of their hands and fingers and anyone who took part in such proceedings was allowed to decorate a finger or thumb. Certain small motifs were sometimes tattooed on the wrist, forearm, thighs, chest or shoulders. It was a Kayan custom for men to tie a sacred seed to the wrist as a charm against disease. A symbolic representation of this seed, the Lukut, was often tattooed on the wrist for the same purpose. A stylized rose (rosette) or star was tattooed on the chest or shoulders. The so-called “dog” motif was tattooed on the forearm and thigh. Some anthropologists sustain that the rose and the star are both derived from the dog motif and represent the animal’s eye, others that the spirals that hook up and usually form the centre of the “rosette” and the “lukut” are in fact based on the Chinese yin and yang symbol. Of the “dog” design, Sharon Thomas wrote the following in the Sarawak Museum Journal in 1968: “People tell me that the animal…. isn’t a dog but an animal that’s now extinct. It used to live in the jungle or the river, it was very big and ate men. ….. It would be more precise to call it a dragon”. In this connection, it’s worth remembering that the Burmese (or Shans) used to tattoo themselves with a representation of a monster to ward off evil. Other ethnic groups in Borneo had their own traditional tattoo designs but by the 19th century they’d abandoned them all and adopted the Kayan style. The Kenowit – originally a tribe of pirates inhabiting the banks of the upper Rajng and with a penchant for plundering villages downstream – were extensively tattooed, in a way “strongly resembling armour plating”. The Kenowit used to tattoo their faces as well, like the Bakatan, who belonged to the same ethnic stock as the Kenowit and tattooed the chin and lower part of the cheeks and sometimes a rosette on the forehead for rapid identification in battle. The most original characteristic of their tattooing was that they used to cover their bodies with “negative” tattoos, the patterns being formed by the skin in its natural colouring while the background was a heavy black. This body decoration took years to complete. Every time a warrior distinguished himself for bravery in battle, he would add a new tattoo. So only the bravest got to be completely tattooed. The various motifs used by the Biaijau – another ethnic group on the south west coast symbolized not only courage in battle and successful headhunting but also skills and craftsmanship, such as carving, or success in love. Particularly interesting is the “naga” tattoo on the stomach, with a traditional Chinese dragon’s head, sporting long sharp teeth, tongue out and a horn on its forehead. The Dusun aborigines used to wear a decorated band, two inches wide, from the shoulder to the stomach and on the forearm a perpendicular stripe for each enemy killed. Their neighbours, the Muruts, used to record the number of enemies killed in the same way and would tattoo a black square on the backs of warriors guilty of fleeing from the field of battle. One tribe that maintained their original traditions were the Kelabits, inhabitants of the northern plains. The men limited themselves to stripes on their arms, while the women decorated their arms and legs with geometrical figures, zig zags and Vs. It is thought that the Iban only started tattooing around 1890 but they immediately showed such exuberance in the practice that they were described by the Sarawak Gazette in 1907 as the “most extensively tattooed tribe in Borneo”. Malcom MacDonald has given us the following description of Temonggong Koh, an Iban chief he met in 1947: “Apart from his distinguished expression, the most noticeable physical attribute was the backs of his hands, which were completely blue, from his wrists to the base of the fingernails. This decoration had an honourable meaning, as it showed he was a great head hunter. Originally, hunters were entitled to tattoo one phalange for every head they cut, so with every new head the hunter would colour a new phalange black-blue. Chief Temonggong Koh had all his fingers, including his thumbs, covered with those honourable signs”. We can’t tell for sure if the symbols on his hands gave an exact count of his human victims or whether the community he headed had merely allowed him to exaggerate with those symbols. Anyway, even if the symbols and their positioning didn’t have a particular meaning, the tattoo in itself certainly did. They indicated that the wearer had taken part in a Bijalai, an important custom amongst the Iban, consisting in a journey the men had to make to obtain material gain and social prestige. It might entail spending months in the jungle cutting rattan (used to make chairs, sticks, etc.) or even a number of years working in a distant city. A man returning from his bijalai had to bring home a trophy – such as a gong or a rifle – and thus earned the right to be tattooed, an operation usually carried out before actually getting home. Iban tattoos: - Calf muscle: usually “Kowit” hooks, a sign that indicated the reaching of puberty. - Shoulders: a rosette (“bunga trong”, “tandan buah”, “buah andu” or “ringgit saliling”). - Thighs and arms: a “kala” scorpion, symbolizing a journey. - Back: rosettes, also symbolizing a journey. - Throat: a “katak” frog (derived from the Bakatan “hooks“), an imitation of the “burong lang” (war god) signs on the throat. - Backs of hands: large tattoos or linear decorations. Symbols of success as a head hunter. The Iban “war god” is a symbolic bird called “burong singalang” but it’s masked by “burong lang”, which can be a falcon or a kite with signs on the throat similar to the “katak” of the Iban. Iban women were also tattooed though not very extensively. The most common tattoo was a “bracelet” around an arm, probably indicating having been cured of a illness. They rarely tattooed their throats like men. Tattoos on the backs of their hands indicated skill in weaving, which was considered a worthy enterprise, much as cutting enemies’ heads off was for men. The Ibans’ lifestyle has undergone many changes in recent years. Certain customs, such as the “bijalai”, have survived anyway and some Ibans still tattoo themselves with the sign that represents it. The throat tattoo has stayed the same, like many other Iban tattoo motifs. The same rosettes can be seen today on shoulders and backs and more or less recognizable scorpions on legs and arms. A lot of new motifs have been introduced, including ships and aeroplanes, often accompanied by the names of places visited. Men also get themselves tattoos in the style of the places they visit, where possible. A tattoo on the back of a hand nowadays probably means that a man has been to Thailand on his bijalai and not that he’s cut someone’s head off. by Luisa Gnecchi Ruscone Tattoo Life
		Choose... +++ INDEX ARCHIVE SECTION +++ +++++ ARTIC TATTOOS +++++ +++++ THERAPEUTIC TATTOOS +++++ +++++ TATTOO AND MAGIC +++++ +++++ BORNEO TATTOO +++++ +++++ TATTOOS & PRISON +++++ +++++ SIGNS OF DISGRACE +++++ +++++ SAILOR TATTOOS +++++ +++++ TATTOO & RELIGION +++++ +++++ TATTOO & WAR +++++ +++++ ELECTRIC TATTOOING IN INDIA I +++++ +++++ ELECTRIC TATTOOING IN INDIA II +++++ +++++ POSITIONING TATTOOS +++++ +++++ EROTIC TATTOOS +++++ +++++ TATTOOS ON HANDS +++++ +++++ THE BRITISH +++++ +++++ PEA, SAMOAN MALE TATTOOING +++++ +++++ THE LEGEND OF SAMOA +++++

Punan

Punan Bah or Punan^[1] is an ethnic group found in Sarawak, Malaysia. They are distinct, unrelated to the Penan and also the other so called Punan found in Kalimantan the Indonesian part of Borneo. Their name stems from two rivers along the banks of which they have been living time immemorial. They do have other names - Mikuang Bungulan or Mikuang and Aveang Buan. But these terms are only used ritually these days.

The Punan (or Punan Bah) have never been nomad. In the old days they base their living on a mixed economy. Swidden agriculture with hill paddy as the main crop, supplemented by a range of tropical plants which include maniok, taro, sugar cane, tobacco, etc. Hunting especially wild boar, fishing, and gathering of forest resources are the other important factors in their economy.

However, in the late 1980s many Punan, notably the younger, more educated, gradually migrating to urban areas such as Bintulu, Sibu, Kuching and Kuala Lumpur in search of better living. However, they didn't abandon their longhouses altogether. Many would still return home - especially during major festivities such as Harvest Festival / or Bungan festival as it is known among Punan.

Punan is a stratified society of 'laja' (aristocrats), 'panyen' (commoners), and 'lipen' (slaves). This is a fact determine their historical traditions that have been preserved. Just like most of the history of European Middle Ages is linked to and mainly concerned the various ruling monarchs, so are the historical and mythical traditions of Punan closely connected to their rulings aristocrats.